Okay, not exactly gaming news but good to see anyway. Krita, the high quality FOSS painting program now has a Linux version available on Steam.

They made a bit of a splash about releasing the Linux version on Steam too, in their announcement they mentioned how they're proud of it being "free, open source and community-driven software" with the Steam release meant as another direct way to support the development since it requires a purchase. Note: The Krita team did send GamingOnLinux a copy.

I think this part of the announcement was my favourite bit:

Linux is part of our roots, and we're passionate about Linux as a platform for everybody--from professionals, to students, to everyday people. Whether you're a programmer, a musician, a gamer, or an artist, Linux belongs to all of us. We love Linux, and we're happy to support Linux as a first-class platform on Steam.

As for the application itself, it really is good. There's times I'm actually amazed at how far Linux and open source software has come in the last few years. I can right now plug in our Wacom drawing tablet (Wacom K100981 Intuos S), Linux will instantly pick it up. If you have more than one monitor, there's a really small bit of configuration you need to do to lock the Wacom tablet to one monitor, otherwise the drawing area is spread across them all by default making it tricky but even that was really easy to do.

Then I can begin drawing an absolute masterpiece in Krita right away:

Don't give up my day job—right?

Great to see this happen on Steam, even if it's available elsewhere it's nice to have more ways to support developers doing such fantastic tools like this that support Linux. It's all about familiarity too, if a long-time Windows user always grabs it from Steam and they want to try Linux, having things like this right where they're used to can really help.

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What puzzles me for many years, is why there is no "linux store" for user, __not system__, software. It is not like we really need all this software to be in the system, in which case the distro software manager needs to know about it. Why we need steam to do the obvious and even know there is not something like it. I do not even see anyone proposing it.

lucinosWhat puzzles me for many years, is why there is no "linux store" for user, __not system__, software. It is not like we really need all this software to be in the system, in which case the distro software manager needs to know about it. Why we need steam to do the obvious and even know there is not something like it. I do not even see anyone proposing it.

I don't see what I'm missing. The package manager of your choice offers you plentiest of applications...

Same here. I bought a (very) cheap one a few years ago because I'd lusted after tablets since the 8-bit days, without taking into account that I can't actually draw to save my life. And don't have the space on my desk for it (I'm using a trackball rather than a mouse as it is).

But Krita is absolutely brilliant with it. For all that I actually ever do with graphics, GIMP (with G'MIC) is more than enough, though.

NanobangI'm going to wishlist the Steam version and purchase it further on down the line as a way to support the app financially.

Why not send them money via their official Donation page? That way you can support Krita without Valve taking a cut. I figure being present on Steam is mostly meant for people who have never heard of Krita before (or are stuck on an inferior operating system).

lucinosWhat puzzles me for many years, is why there is no "linux store" for user, __not system__, software. It is not like we really need all this software to be in the system, in which case the distro software manager needs to know about it. Why we need steam to do the obvious and even know there is not something like it. I do not even see anyone proposing it.

Instead we see overengineering solutions like snaps and flatpacks.

I don't quite get what you're talking about. When I go to the "Software Centre" thingie on Mint, Krita is there (two versions actually, one "native" distro version and one from flathub). But if it wasn't in my distro's repository, and I wanted to install it anyway, I'd want an "overengineered" solution like a flatpak so I didn't end up in dependency hell.

We don't need Steam for something like Krita. But Windows users do, and it would be kind of strange for Krita to go on Steam and not be available to Linux users there; plus if someone wants to throw some money their way, they can buy a Steam copy.

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